Persia
which was one of the nations committed to push Israel into the so busily engaged in warfare with Iraq that she has been unable Arab league in their project. The angels have been very busy in late; The process is continuing, but has not yet reached the stage Ezekiel 28:26, of all dwelling safely.this situation has been reached, then the events of Ezekiel chapter great northern confederacy, which includes Iran, comes down on “they shall dwell safely, all of them°(v.8).
Russia
There is also a little more to be accomplished before the prophetic scene of this northern confederacy is complete; Persia and Ethiopia are both named as being with Rosh when he comes against the land. At present they are not yet firmly in that camp; They will be there in the end.
The straightforward general outline provided through Daniel in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2 is well understood by us, though it seems less obvious to people outside our community. Where I think we ourselves may go astray in our understanding of that chapter is our supposition that when the little stone is said to strike the image on the feet, this implies that the kingdom of men is instantly and simultaneously destroyed at one blow; Sometimes Dr. Thomas seems so to interpret it; but at other times he saw the conflict against the kingdom of men as consisting of two main conflicts; The present writer favours the latter interpretation on scriptural grounds.
The view that Christ destroys the image in one conflict requires that the Eastern and Western sections of the kingdom of men come together as a unity before the advent of the Lord; this is generally seen as the uniting of East and West under the Soviet system;
However, whilst both East and West sections of human authority are opposed to the purpose of God, they are nevertheless systems which are opposed to each other; The East comprises nations which are either Moslem in character, or atheistic; They are by their nature opposed to the Western bloc, and they are violently anti-Israel;
The Vatican and the West
The West, on the other hand, is a professing Christian system, and is predominantly Roman Catholic. It is interesting to notice that our Brother Graham Pearce points out in his 1984 publication of “Milestones to the Kingdom”, that when the Treaty of Rome came into existence in 1957, “the six foreign ministers who signed the Treaty were all Roman Catholics (they attended Mass with the Pope after signing the Treaty); and no doubt the Vatican was aiming to weld these countries together for its own ends” (p;10);
Dr; Thomas distinguishes between these two groups in his “Exposition of Daniel”; After describing the overthrow of the Russian host, he adds,
“After the overthrow at Bozrah, he (Christ) prepares to subdue the West” (p;39);
and after speaking of the dismissal of New Rome based upon Constantinople (i;e. Eastern Rome), he says,
“Its mission in the Holy Land and against Judah ends with its Pharaoh-like destruction; and the East delivered, future events re-open in the West, where only a Beast, the false prophet, and the ten horns, their Russian Constantinopolitan confederacy being dissolved, remain to be ground to powder, and destroyed by fire and sword” (p;56);
He continues this theme on Page 66 thus:
“When the little horn of the goat is broken to pieces on the mountains of Israel, the Constantinopolitan power collapses, being seen no more in the Holy Land for a thousand years”;
If this is correct, then we see that Daniel ch.7 is not just a first construction of the same events in chapter 8, but is an account of the separate development of the western wing of the Roman Empire as the kingdom of men; this corresponds with the content of Psalm 2, where it is the kings of the earth which come against the Lord’s anointed sitting on the throne of the Lord in Zion, as is also the 17th chapter of Revelation: “The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast; These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (12-14);
This beast is the revitalised kingdom of the West, and the kings who give their power and strength unto the beast are the Western European nations who have surrendered their independent existence to join the EEC, which is shortly to be riden by a woman in scarlet, whose name is written on her forehead as “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”; She will eventually gather her dissenting daughters to her side, and will once again become what John saw her to be in vision, the repository of human wisdom, which caused him to exclaim, “When I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (Rev.17:6). It is she who is to control this new organisation of human power, and who will lead it against the Lord enthroned on David’s throne in Zion.
Dr. Thomas draws attention to the more severe judgment to be poured on the West than that on the East on page 16 of his “Exposition of Daniel”: “While the constitution of the Latins are exterminated, the populations of Assyria, Persia and Macedonian Egypt, are permitted to retain their nationality for a season and a time”; he quotes Isaiah 19:23 in support;
One might wonder why this disparity of punishment should exist; but no doubt there is an added responsibility resting upon those who profess an alliance with Christ, and whose deeds cause others to reject him, because they claim to be representatives of that Holy person, but act evilly. It was largely the evil practices of professing Christians which led to the rejection of Christianity by the Russians, and their defection to materialism – as one becomes aware, when reading the history of the church in Russia;
Watch!
The times of Gentile opportunity now draw to a close for much the same reason that the end of the Jewish age came; almost everyone now rejects the Gospel message of salvation. We know that when the little stone strikes the kingdom of men in its most vulnerable part, its end has come; As ambassadors for Christ, it is our duty to preach the Gospel as though we expect men to heed our cry, even as the men of Nineveh responded to the appeal of Jonah.
The second Psalm does conclude as though there could be some of the kings of the earth who will kiss the Son, lest he be angry and they perish from the way. So, our final word is the word of our Lord himself: “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch”; and as we have seen, that watching is not confined to the signs of the times, but to our own lifestyle.
The Borders of the Land of Israel